Ripple’s General Counsel Sees “Absurdity” in SEC’s Approach to Enforcing Crypto Regulation

Ripple General Counsel Stuart Alderoty sees “absurdity” in the SEC’s enforcement of its standard market regulations. He says: “I would reconsider the ‘logic’ of saying crypto markets must yield to SEC jurisdiction because it’s like saying electric car drivers don’t need seat belts. It’s actually more like punishing electric car drivers b/c they do” t use SEC-owned and controlled gas stations.”

I’d reconsider the “logic” of saying that crypto markets must succumb to SEC jurisdiction, b/c that’s like saying electric car drivers don’t need seat belts. It’s actually more like penalizing EV drivers for not using SEC-owned and controlled gas stations.

— Stuart Alderoty (@s_alderoty) 1 August 2022

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said the agency has rules in place in its capital markets to safeguard market integrity while ensuring investors are protected. Gensler added, “If a company builds a crypto market that protects investors and meets the standard of our market regulations, people are more likely to have greater confidence in that market.”

But as it stands, Gensler has not provided a road map for exactly how the greater trust will be built.

To this end, Alderoty highlighted the urgent need for “sensible” crypto regulation from the US, while criticizing the SEC’s approach as “bullying” in a recent op-ed.

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Alderoty referred back to rep. Sherman’s “off-base” comments during an oversight hearing focused on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) enforcement division held last week by the House Financial Services Subcommittee where Sherman touched on the Ripple lawsuit.

In December 2020, the SEC sued Ripple for allegedly raising funds by selling XRP, which at the time was the third largest cryptocurrency, without registering it as a security.

Twitch users can soon create NFTs on XRPL

We are proud to be the recipient of @RippleXDev‘s #XRPLGrants Program!

This will allow #Twitch streamers to make NFTs on #XRPLedger and connect game developers to provide their tokens in-game. 🎮📹

Stay tuned for launch next month! https://t.co/Pz9QVCWCej#XRPL #NFT pic.twitter.com/rSDTtVDhhf

— PlayNFT (@playnft_io) 21 July 2022

Play NFT, a platform for creating non-fungible tokens (NFT), recently announced that it was one of the awardees of RippleX’s XRPL Grants program. Through the platform, Twitch streamers can generate NFTs on XRPLedger and connect with other players and developers to give tokens utility in games. It is expected to launch later this month.

The XRPL Grants program provides financial support for software development initiatives using the open source XRP Ledger (XRPL). Applicants received a total of $3 million in funding from XRPL Grants during the second quarter of 2022.